Hyaku no Kotoba
by dreamer.at.heart
Summary: One hundreds words to sum up a relationship. Sasuke, Hinata, a plot to massacre an entire country, and a baby who teaches Sasuke how to be human again.
1. Introduction

**A/N: This is actually a rewrite of a story that I started and then removed because I realized that I was accidentally writing two different stories into one which didn't work out. It's for the 100 Themes thingy and yes, it's a SasuHina, so if you hate the pairing that gtfo. If you are a regular reader of mine and are wondering why the hell I haven't updated Dance With the Devil in like five months, it's because I've had zero inspiration and I've also been really busy getting ready to apply for college and the like.**

**Anywho. Enjoy.**

**-Dreameratheart**

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><p><strong>TITLE: <strong>Hyaku no Kotoba (lit. One Hundred Words)

**Chapter One:** Introduction

**Author**: DreameratHeart

**Pairing**: SasuHina

**Theme**: 1. Introduction

**Summary**: Most stories have a beginning. This one has an introduction.

It is not a happy one.

**General Disclaimer**: I don't own anything but the plot.

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><p><em>Introduction:<em>

- "A formal personal presentation of one person to another or others."

- "A preliminary part, as of a book, musical composition, or thelike, leading up to the main part."

* * *

><p>It's dark, and for the first time in a long time he's scared.<p>

He doesn't want to die. He never did. That was never his goal - he wanted to kill others, not himself.

That's the cowardly thing, to kill oneself. He used to think about it, but then Itachi would win…

It's funny. He was really just a tool in the end. Just like his brother, even though this time he wasn't used as a tool to end a clan, but to commit suicide with him as the weapon of choice.

And now that Itachi's gone, he can't let Konoha win.

They'd like that, wouldn't they? If he tried to kill himself.

Not really. He knows that and that's the worst part. He knows when he gets out of here - wherever 'here' is - they won't kill him. They won't keep him in prison.

They'll use him like they used his brother. They'll use him like they're using Naruto.

And now…

The last thing he remembers is a pair of silver eyes, burning with white fire. He remembers pale hands glowing with blue chakra. He remembers a sharp pain in his eyes when the glowing hands had brushed his skin.

And then he couldn't see.

It wasn't Naruto, was it? No, he remembers grabbing Naruto mid-Hirashin. He was remembers his katana and the blood and the screaming…

It was the Girl who had been screaming.

He can't remember Her name, or what the eyes mean, though he thinks it's significant.

He's terrified of this Girl with the glowing blue hands and the burning silver eyes, and if he ever gets out of the darkness, he's going to kill Her.

He'll rip out Her eyes first, those eyes that saw through him and saw his strengths and saw his weaknesses and saw how to beat him.

He'll make Her fear the darkness, too.

Now he's frowning. He can feel heat, but it's not fire, so he knows he's not dead and in hell.

He can hear a sound. It's annoying, a beep-beep-beep that makes his head throb. He can feel his heartbeat in his eyes and a memory flashes in his mind. Another beep, another heartbeat, another day in the hospital. There's another sound, too; a faint humming, musical and light. He thinks maybe it's his mother, watching over him.

She would be so ashamed. He prays for her forgiveness, but what was he supposed to do? Let his family's death go unavenged? Let Itachi's death go unnoticed?

No. That's not how he was raised.

Now he can smell. There's rubbing alcohol and old blood and trees and…wet dog? And…vanilla. A trace of cinnamon and lavender. The scents are stronger now. It smells nice, like home and safety and lost childhood. He misses that smell.

And now there's taste…dry. His mouth tastes dry, dusty. And the parts that aren't wet or dry are…gooey, he guesses. It's gross.

And then there's a touch.

It's a light, ghost of a touch. The skin belonging to the hand that touches his cool, damp forehead is soft and yet callused at the same time. It brushes back his hair in a motherly fashion before it spasms, like it's thinking about jerking back. Then the hand flattens and presses against his head before it disappears. It's the first touch he remembers in a long time that hasn't hurt, and he wants it back.

He inhales deeply through his nose, and fresh air tickles his nostrils. But the air doesn't quite get there. His back arches as he tries to breath, and he realizes something is in his way. He reaches up and while he does his eyes flicker open.

"Oh no you don't." The voice is gentle, but he knows that voice and he knows it's screams.

And the darkness is gone.

And then the last thing he saw becomes the first thing he sees.

And he reaches his hand out and all he can think is _"not again"._

* * *

><p>She hates this job.<p>

She hates the smell of sterile hospital equipment. She hates the stark whiteness of the room. She hates the looks Ino and Sakura give her when she's allowed to leave (which isn't often, just for training, which she'd do anyway, and occasionally to check up on her sister and clan and family. This patient needs constant supervision). She hates the ever-present beeping of the heart monitor. She hates that she's a killer pretending to be a healer. She hates she can't be with her sister who lies in a comatose state two rooms over. She hates that she can't mourn her losses with her last remaining teammate.

Luckily Hokage-sama has had mercy on her and lets Kiba stay with her.

Of course, Hokage-sama wouldn't want one of his best assassins going insane, so it's probably for the best.

And that does make the job worth it. Now she doesn't have to deal with the public, face her responsibilities of her new position as clan head. Her new responsibilities of being a guardian to a baby.

Akamaru is asleep at her side, and she reads through a book on child care while she hums a lullaby her mother used to sing. She turns the pages with one hand and strokes his head with the other. Kiba is getting lunch so she waits for him to return.

Sometimes she worries he won't return, because Shino never did and she doesn't think she'd survive if he left her too.

This is how it's been for a month.

She watches over the 'special patient' whom she dragged in herself. Who she defeated only after he nearly killed the one boy she's ever loved.

It irritates her to no end. Why not Sakura? Or even Ino?

Both actually care for the man-boy, and both are actual medics. Both have a decent knowledge of seals.

But no. Hokage-sama says he needs someone who isn't emotionally invested (which makes absolutely no sense. Of course she's emotionally invested; it takes all her self-restraint not to kill the damn boy.) and he doesn't need a healer, he needs a sealer, and as a kunochi she knows the basics anyway.

Which is why she's here-he's not restrained in the conventional way. No leather straps, no strait jacket.

But she knows the seals are there and she knows how to use them (she made them after all) and that's all that counts.

Not that it matters. He might not even wake up. He could be in a coma forever and she knows her conscience wouldn't suffer. And if he doesn't wake up within the next month, she'll be sent back to reality. Which would be nice on one hand but would also really, really, suck.

Now she lifts her head up and tucks a lock of indigo hair behind her ear. Something just changed.

It's the beeping. It was faster, just for a moment, but there it is. And his breathing, quiet as it is, has become labored. His eyes are moving rapidly under his eyelids and his hand twitches.

"Kiba," She breathes rather than speaks, and Akamaru is up in a second, leaving the room to fetch his partner. She goes to the side of the hospital bed and the veins beside her eyes expand.

She looks past the twisted, dark, deformed chakra network and the seal marks burned on his pale flesh and looks for the blood and the organs and the body. She sees his heart beating and the blood flowing through his brain.

She's a living, walking x-ray machine. But sometimes she likes to forget she's just a tool in the end and she pretends they need her because she's special, because her Byakugan can see so much more than just chakra and points and the standard distance for the average Hyuuga. But then she remembers, and her mind snaps back to reality.

Now she stares down at this boy with her special eyes and by reflex she smoothes back his dark, unkept bangs and checks for a fever. She nearly jerks away when she realizes what she's done, but she reminds herself she can't be afraid anymore and she lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding. He doesn't have a fever and she takes her hand back. She fights the urge to cradle her hand to her chest like it's been burned, but instead, it drops uselessly down by her side and she watches him with a sort of terrified interest.

His nostrils suddenly flare as he takes in a deep breath, and he arches his back. He looks like a cat; all sculpted muscle and thin bone structure. He's kind of beautiful, in a dark, twisted way.

Then suddenly, his hand moves up to remove the cord that lets his comatose body breath even if it doesn't want to, and she no longer sees pale butterfly eyelids but darker-than-black eyes.

"Oh, no you don't." She brushes his hand back just as his eyes open completely. The consequences of her actions don't even register till the next second, and she knows it's too late and thanks god for her unorthodox training because she's going to need it. Her second thought is that Kiba is going to walk in at the wrong time and kill the patient. And then Hokage-sama will yell at her and Naruto and Sakura and Ino will hate her and she wonders if she'll really care.

And his hand stretches out.

And it slides through her silky blue hair.

And it wraps around her slender neck until his tapered fingers close around her throat and he begins to squeeze.

* * *

><p>Black meets white.<p>

Dark meets light.

And so it begins.

This is their introduction.

Perhaps it is not pleasant. It isn't what's expected.

But it is what it is.

And this is only the beginning.

* * *

><p>fin.<p>

* * *

><p>R&amp;R.<p>

- dreameratheart


	2. Love

**TITLE: **Hyaku no Kotoba

**Chapter Two:** Love

**Author**: DreamerAtHeart.

**Pairing**: SasuHina

**Theme**: 2. Love

**Summary**: Love is many things. It is not supposed to be _this_. But it is.

* * *

><p><em>Love:<em>

- "A profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person."

- "To take great pleasure in."

* * *

><p>It's Her, alright. The Girl with No Name. The Girl With the Silver Eyes.<p>

Her face is calm, like She's been expecting this. She's not fighting back, not staring up at him with wide eyes full of tears at a sudden betrayal. She's not asking "Why, Sasuke?" and She doesn't seem to care that he's squeezing tighter, that they can both hear the bones creaking under his stone grip.

He knows She can't do anything about it: He's got one of Her hands trapped in his other hand, and he knows that even if he doesn't kill Her this is going to bruise.

And then She smiles at him.

She goddamn smiles and its goddamn unnerving and he goddamn hates it. He hates Her and Her goddamn pale pretty skin and he wants to take a katana to Her pale pretty unscarred face.

Then She lifts up one hand and starts flipping through hand seals and he thinks _"What the hell?"_ and then the burning starts in his shoulder and in a second it consumes his entire body.

He lets go but he doesn't scream. He knows what he looks like - a rigid skeleton of a boy with wide, wide, dark eyes.

But he doesn't scream and he thinks that's a triumph.

She steps back from him with that same sad little smile on Her face and the pain begins to fade when the door swings open.

He knows this boy-man with the tan scarred skin and the fangs and the haunted look in his eyes. His name is Kiba and Naruto farted in his face at the Chuunin exams when they were thirteen.

Kiba raises a pierced eyebrow at the Girl. "Hinata?" He asks, his voice on the edge between curious and dangerous.

Now there is a name to the eyes and he flashes back to a stuttering mess of a girl whose clan was probably worse than his and who was irrevocably in love with Naruto.

This is not that girl, and he wonders what happened to her. He kind of liked that girl, meaning he admired the fact that she wasn't in love with him and that she kept a respectable distance from the object of her affections. And he liked that she was aristocratically bred through and through. That was familiar and that was safe.

But not this girl.

This girl is dark and if he wasn't Sasuke Uchiha he would be terrified of her and her all-seeing eyes _(he remembers the Byakugan now and knows that's not what she has, she's something different…)_ and her small sad smiles.

Hinata turns toward her teammate _(He remembers that too; Team 8 with the jackets that hid the darkest secrets_) but her eyes stay on Sasuke's own and he wants her to stop.

"Our patient is finally awake. Do you want to tell Hokage-sama, or should I?" Obviously, the patient is himself.

Kiba is torn between letting this girl face the Hokage's likely terrible reaction to the news or letting her stay with one of the most terrifying shinobi to grace the ninja world. It shows in the way his eyes dart to Sasuke's crumpled form to the barred window where Sasuke guesses he can see the Hokage tower.

"I will." He says, but the look in his dark wolfish eyes makes Sasuke think that he trusts Hinata to take care of herself and this is his way of showing that he believes she is strong.

He thinks it's foolish himself, but then again this Hinata with her silver eyes and one-handed seals may just be able to keep him crippled for now.

But he'll get her back.

He'll make her know pain, because this Hinata of the Hyuuga clan didn't suffer the same fate that he did and if the Uchiha had to fall, so should the Hyuuga.

And now they're alone once more.

He can sit up now and he realizes he's not being restrained. But as the burning fades, his shoulder begins to throb and he sees the blazing white seal on top of his Cursed Seal. It practically shimmers under the florescent lights of the hospital room and he knows they've got him now.

"What did you do to me?" He growls. It hurts his throat and his dry-gooey mouth but Uchihas don't rasp and this is the alternative.

She gives him another sad small smile and he is once again tempted to take a blade to it. See if she'd still smile after he cuts her from the corners of her pretty pink lips to her delicate sea-shell ears.

"It's a restraining seal. It keeps you from accessing the power of the Cursed Seal while also preventing you from accessing your chakra. It also can cause pain in order to control you to a degree. I would also suggest not activating your Sharingan." Her voice is still soft like he remembers but instead of a stutter there is a note of steel and strength.

He doesn't speak this time and instead reaches for the cup of water at his bedside. He brushes back the cords attached to his face and downs it in a single gulp. It takes the dust and the goo away and though his throat is still sore he knows he can speak now.

"What bastard made that?" He asks through gritted teeth as he starts tearing out the cords in his arms and he rips off the cord taped to his nose. She doesn't try to stop him this time but her sad little smile turns into an amused little grin. And then he knows and now there's another reason for him to kill her.

"I did." She says in her too-soft voice. "It contains components of the Caged Bird Seal of the Hyuuga clan."

"I thought you hated that seal." He asks, keeping his tone neutral.

Her eyes widen a fraction and he can tell that she's surprised he knows, but then she nods and her hand goes up to her forehead unconsciously.

"During the war we had to seal the entire clan." She says calmly. He can see for himself that the seal is gone and he states the obvious.

"You figured out how to remove it." It's not what he wants to say. _"So you made me a caged bird instead?" _He thinks bitterly of the question he really wants to ask.

She nods once more and now the corners of her lips turn up just that much more. "I learned a lot about seals….so Hokage-sama knew I should be able to create something to stop the Cursed Seal from activating, and to restrain you."

Now he stays silent and he glances out the barred window. He can see the Hokage tower high against the Hokage Mountain and that's when he sees the sixth head carved up there next to the head of that old hag. It's not Naruto and somehow he's not surprised that they included his mask in the carving.

"So that pervert is Hokage."

Hinata looks like she would roll her eyes if it were in her nature, and he can tell that she has a problem with this.

"Tsunade-hime died of her injuries shortly after killing Kabuchimaru." She says softly. Her eyes follow his own to stare at the carving of the fifth Hokage. She is immortalized in stone and he briefly wonders if someday, Naruto will be the same way.

The door swings open and a gust of wind blows in. It brushes at Sasuke's bare back and he realizes that his gown is open in the back and there are more tubes.

"Hey Sleeping Beauty," The voice of his former sensei is flat where it should have been humorous, and he comes to stand in front of Hinata.

"What happened?" He demands.

Sasuke watches while a darkness seems to come into the girl's silver eyes and she straightens up. Her expression is neutral and he knows that she's in mission mode now.

"The patient began to exhibit signs of waking up. I followed protocol and examined the patient for brain activity and other biological signs that he was coming out of his coma. He awakened and I immediately took action to restrain him from escaping." She speaks like she's a machine and then he wonders why she doesn't tell Kakashi that he attacked her. The bruises are already beginning to show but her long hair casts a shadow that hides and disguises while her sleeve falls over her slender wrists hiding the evidence of his harsh grip.

"Good. So the seals work?" He doesn't beat around the bush and the silver eyed girl nods.

"Ok. Well…I guess you're excused for now. Take a break while I talk to our patient…Though, Hinata-san?"

She smiles but it is neither the sad smile or the amused turned-up-corners she gives him. It is emotionless and just muscles stretching over her face. "I will not tell Sakura-san or Naruto-san." Then she leaves, the wind blowing back her lavender-vanilla scent. It hits Sasuke in the face and he observes that Naruto isn't Naruto-kun anymore.

Something has changed and he knows it's not just her lack of stutter or the steel or the strength or the silver that has changed in this girl.

Kakashi watches after the girl and Sasuke doesn't care where she is going, only that she is gone and his bloodlust settles down a little.

But he will find her.

Because he knows he's just going to _love_ it when her red blood spills from that pretty pale face of hers and it'll fall like tears and soak the ground.

And he'll see those silver eyes cry and he thinks he's fallen in love with her tortured image in his mind.

* * *

><p>Her first thought, which should be more along the lines of <em>"Get your hand off me"<em> is actually _"His eyes are beautiful."_

They aren't red like when she fought him, and she's not looking at pale paper-thin eyelids anymore. His eyes are like the darkest moonless night or the deepest part of the ocean.

They're angry or perhaps afraid but she always made one up for the other herself. They want to kill her and it's almost erotic the way he stares her down. It makes her shiver despite that she now notices that he's been tightening his grip and the bones in her slender neck will eventually give way.

She would love to gorge them out of his skull like her sister's were.

Then she notices how one of her pale-pale hands is wrapped in his and that their icy skin tones match almost to the exact white undertone. He's squeezing that too and that kind of hurts so she snaps out of it.

But then she sees his eyes again as she lifts up her free hand. The seals are etched into her mind and she does them without another moment's hesitation.

She is two seals away from completing her jutsu and he's giving her a funny look. But then she is done and his callused palm brushes at the skin of her neck as it falls and he falls back into his bed.

She's not really impressed when he doesn't scream. This is Uchiha Sasuke and she expects no less from the man who would've wiped out a village.

She's still staring at him and his angry eyes but she steps back. She's still got some sort of sense of self-preservation despite what the whole of Konoha now thinks.

She's not sure how much time passes, but then the door swings open and the smell of warmth and wood is back.

"Hinata?" Kiba asks. She's amused at how to anyone else he's wondering about the patient, but she hears the unspoken question.

"_Did he touch you?"_

She's almost a little shocked at hearing her name. They usually don't talk much and she's kind of forgotten it.

And she knows better to tell the truth, so when she turns her body to him she keeps her eyes on Sasuke's. Kiba was always good at reading her eyes, and honestly she can't handle it if her teammate throws a shit-fit right now.

"Our patient is finally awake. Do you want to tell Hokage-sama, or should I?"

She can practically hear him thinking now. She knows he's afraid to leave her here with this horrible man and at the same time he really doesn't want to deal with their new joke of a Hokage.

She knows what he's going to say before he says it. "I will." He confirms her thoughts begrudgingly, and she's thankful for it. He's acknowledging her strength - he believes she can take care of herself - and yet also taking on the job that she would have an actual problem with. She can't stand the Hokage and whenever she is in his presence she wants to smack him.

But now they're alone again.

Hinata can tell he's angry, furious with her and if he could he would kill her where she stands.

But that's alright, since if she hadn't taken an oath she would kill him too.

He sits up now and his eyes are no longer staring into hers but are on the white, spiraling seal that almost covers his Cursed Seal. She really likes how it starts to twist down his chest like vines, but then again, she designed it. She wonders what he would think if he knew that her own tattoo that crawls up her back are a direct match to the designs on his "tattoo".

"What did you do to me?" His voice comes out like a deep growl and Hinata almost winces. She's woken from a coma before and knows his throat must hurt like hell. There's a cup of water on the side table though and he'll see it eventually.

"It's a restraining seal. It keeps you from accessing the power of the Cursed Seal while also preventing you from accessing your chakra. It also can cause pain in order to control you to a degree. I would also suggest not activating your Sharingan." She smiles before she speaks because she is sorry for him. She remembers the pain of her own seal and thanks god her forehead is clear again.

He goes for the cup of water and drinks it quickly. Then, "What bastard made that?"

She almost laughs and can't control it when her smile goes from pitiful to amused. She knows that he knows before she speaks.

"I did. It contains components of the Caged Bird Seal of the Hyuuga clan." She doesn't know why she explains as he starts ripping out his cords. She doesn't fight him this time; he's awake now and won't need them. He won't go back to sleep like most coma patients. She already knows.

Something in his face twitches. "I thought you hated that seal."

She's surprised that he knows until she remembers that, oh yes, he was Naruto's teammate. And Naruto does like to tell stories - his team would've been a likely victim to the tale of the twisted House of Hyuuga.

She nods before she touches her own forehead. It's an automatic move, especially after wearing bandages there for so long.

"During the war we had to seal the entire clan." It wouldn't be such an awful memory if she hadn't stayed by Hanabi's side during the whole thing. Hanabi wasn't used to losing or pain and so the pain of it shocked her so badly she had fainted. Hinata remembers bending over her sister's body and wondering if she was dead. If that had been the case, it certainly would've been her fault; she was had been the one to come up with the idea of sealing the whole clan in the first place.

"You figured out how to remove it." It's more of a question than a statement, but it's not those words asking the question.

"_So you made me into a Caged Bird instead?"_

It's almost kind of ironic and it makes her smile a little bit more before she nods. She's been doing that a lot today; nodding. Too many questions for one day.

"I learned a lot about seals….so Hokage-sama knew I should be able to create something to stop the Cursed Seal from activating, and to restrain you."

At the word "Hokage" his head turns toward the single barred window in the room. They can both see the Hokage Mountain and its six faces. They can both see the sixth face with its mask and its scar and its Sharingan.

"So that pervert is Hokage." She knows he's not surprised either that it's not Naruto's face up there. He's still much too young and too uneducated for the position. But in time - she's sure of it - his face will be up there, whiskers and all. Though the choice of Hokage is not one she would've made-the man's a pervert and more importantly he forced her and her grieving teammate into a bad situation. She doesn't think the man really has a heart sometimes.

Then she realizes there was a question there, too. "Tsunade-hime died of her injuries shortly after killing Kabuchimaru." She glances out of the window at her beloved Hokage, memorialized in stone forever.

A moment after the words leave her mouth the door opens. A burst of fresh air comes in along with the scarecrow-Hokage and she breathes it in. She hasn't been outside in awhile.

The silver haired man with his black-red robes allows his lips to switch into a small smirk. "Hey Sleeping Beauty." His voice sounds flat, but she knows that underneath the surface Kakashi is a bundle of nerves and anger.

Then he turns to her and she begins to mentally prepare herself.

"What happened?" He demands.

Hinata hates speaking to Kakashi. He seems to always look down on people and he always expects the worst from everyone. It doesn't help that he once favored Sasuke over Naruto-she's always had a problem with people like that.

Not to mention that he saddled her with this job when she should be taking care of her clan and her sister and her new charge.

But for now, she goes into report mode. _(It's just another thing she does to separate herself from her kills and the reminder that she is not quite human.) _She straightens up; spine ramrod straight like her father has taught her. She lets go of her emotions and focuses on the facts.

"The patient began to exhibit signs of waking up. I followed protocol and examined the patient for brain activity and other biological signs that he was coming out of his coma. He awakened and I immediately took action to restrain him from escaping." She recites like a good little student reading from a textbook. She doesn't know why she doesn't tell him that Sasuke attacked her, but it wouldn't matter either way. She briefly wonders if the bruises are beginning to show and inconspicuously pulls at her sleeves for good measure.

"Good. So the seals work?"

She confirms with a jerk of the head. "Ok. Well…I guess you're excused for now. Take a break while I talk to our patient…Though, Hinata-san?"

She already knows - the unspoken rule about anything concerning developments in Sasuke's health. "I will not tell Sakura-san or Naruto-san."

She quickly exits the room to head for her sister, but she feels his eyes on her back and tries not to shiver. Some part of her is afraid of him _(probably the more intelligent part, she muses)_ but she glances over her shoulder anyway. Kakashi isn't the only one watching her.

His eyes are deep pits of black fury and she'd love to see the look on his face if someone took them from him.

She'd love to see those eyes in the hands of someone who would use them for good.

And most of all, Hinata knows that her sister would love to see again.

"_Oh Hanabi. You won't be blind forever, I promise."_

He'd love to see her cry.

She'd love to see him without his eyes.

They're both a little crazy.

But then again, love has a way of making people do the strangest things.

* * *

><p>fin.<p>

* * *

><p>R&amp;R.<p>

- dreameratheart


	3. Light

**TITLE: **Hyaku no Kotoba

**Chapter Three: **Light

**Author**: DreamerAtHeart.

**Pairing**: SasuHina

**Theme**: 3. Light

**Summary**: Light is radiance. Light is warmth. Light is fire...Which one of these things is not like the other?

* * *

><p><em>Light:<em>

- "The energy producing a sensation of brightness that makes seeing possible, the condition of brightness created by the rays of the sun during the day, or to begin to burn, or cause something to begin to burn."

- "The radiance or illumination from a particular source."

* * *

><p>They both stare at the doorway, though Sasuke suspects for different reasons.<p>

It takes a few more minutes before either of them speak, and as expected its Kakashi who breaks the silence.

"Do you remember anything?" The silver haired man asks, shoving his bony hands into the deep pockets of his Hokage robes.

Sasuke wants to shake his head just to spite the man, who already knows the answer.

"Most of it." He growls his answer.

Unfortunately, that just makes the Copy-Cat nin smirk and Sasuke suddenly wants to reclaim his lost family member's eye.

"She can be quite strong when she wants to be," He muses, and they both know the 'she' in question is that Hyuuga girl. "She was in a fragile state at the time - one of the undead Akatsuki managed to kill her sensei, who shouldn't have been there in the first place as she had given birth recently. She considers the woman her mother and another of her teammates had already been killed. She sort of…went berserk, I suppose. She was the first to finally reach you and Naruto - you nearly killed him, you know that? Stabbing him through the stomach during his Hirashin was quite ingenious. He almost bled out, but Hinata…." He shrugs "Hinata saw through all of your attacks. She somehow unlocked a new stage of the Byakugan. The she cut off the chakra to your eyes and sent the chakra so deep she cut off your vision entirely. It was almost easy after that; you went into a state of shock and she sent a blow of chakra directly into your brain to send you into a comatose state. After that, she used your blood to save Naruto."

Then he chuckles. "Naruto found it pretty funny. You could be called blood brothers now."

Sasuke doesn't react - on the outside, at least. On the inside…

So death set her off, hmm? And her sensei and one teammate were already dead…Kiba must have be the one left. Her light in the darkness, eh?

He recalls the other teammate, a stoic Abarume by the name of Shino. An intelligent man who was a bit oversensitive, but Sasuke had respected him. It's almost a loss to hear about his death.

And the sensei…Yes. The Yuuhi woman. She was too good at genjutsu for him - reminded him of his brother. And hadn't she actually adopted Hinata? Naruto had once babbled about the girl's past…a father who hated her very existence, a cousin who tried to kill her, a sister who resented her birth…

Well then. That just made things almost ridiculously easy.

Harm the Inuzuka boy and he'd have a rematch on his hands.

Extinguish the light…and she'd be stuck in the darkness. Just like him.

That makes him almost want to smile.

"What's making you so happy, Sasuke-_kun_?" He makes the –kun suffix into a mockery with his words. "You have a little crush on Hina-chan?"

Hina-chan. How sickeningly sweet. It doesn't fit her, not in the least.

"Thinking about how sweet it will be to slit her throat." At least he's being honest.

Or maybe that's a little too easy.

He'd rather it be done the way of the Uchiha. He'd rather light her up like a bonfire and watch her burn to the ground.

Kakashi's eyes darken just a little. "You wouldn't be able to raise a hand before she used that nice little seal on you. I don't suppose you saw her use the one handed seals, eh?"

Oh yeah. That. That had been kind of weird…

"Maybe you should ask her about that sometime. You'll be seeing a lot of her."

Oh, now that was just mean. He's just playing with Sasuke now, and Sasuke is quickly becoming pissed off with the new Hokage.

And of course, Kakashi's smirk grows. "With you…incapacitated, you won't be really much of a threat. The whole of the Hyuuga clan has been taught how to defeat you and activate your seal. Not to mention your Sharingan has been sealed off too. And those Hyuugas…they watch over her like a hawk. Her father's dead now and her sister is in a coma. She's a surprisingly good leader, extremely intelligent, ridiculously benevolent, and unexpectedly strong. If I were you I wouldn't even entertain a single thought of touching a hair on her head."

Now it's Sasuke's turn to smirk. "Are _you_ sure you don't have a crush on her, _Hokage-sama_?" He sneers the title and spits on the ground for good measure. He can already tell what the damn man is going to do with him and it pisses him off. A lot.

Well _that_ wipes the smirk off of the full-of-himself Hokage's face. "You'll be living with her. She's not allowed on missions right now-has to take on the responsibility of her clan and all that. So she'll serve as a babysitter until you've decided to be a good little Konoha shinobi or Naruto kills you. The Council's idea, not mine. That seal is made in layers-parts control pain, parts control how much chakra you get and others control how much chakra is allowed to activate the Sharingan. If you decide to become a Konoha shinobi, we'll start letting you use your skills. Or something like that. Now that you're awake the Council will want to speak to you about it. Probably sometime tomorrow."

Then his face softens a little, the corners of his eyes turning down. "We found your brother's body and gave it a proper burial with the rest of the Uchihas." He says quietly.

That shocks him just a little. Maybe.

Sasuke Uchiha is a lot of things: A murderer, a traitor, an awful friend, an awful brother…but he does have manners.

"Arigatou." He murmurs. He forgets to add any malice to the statement as memories of his brother's words flood his mind. His hands clench into fists-he will not forgive Konoha, and he will not let his brother down.

Kakashi nods, and then whistles sharply. The door swings open to reveal a masked ANBU member.

"Ah. Deer. Nice of you to join us." His smile is almost so fake that Sasuke wants to punch him just to get him to stop.

The ANBU nods and takes a seat against the wall. Sasuke glances his way for a brief second before going back to Kakashi.

"My new babysitter?" He deadpans.

Kakashi cracks a grin. "Hinata's been watching your comatose ass for over a month. She gets a break before having to do it again."

A sudden spark of realization lights up in Sasuke's mind. "You haven't told her."

"Nope," He says, popping the 'p'. "Ain't that gonna be fun."

* * *

><p>Hinata gives each of the guards a brief nod before entering the room two doors down from her usual prison cell of a room.<p>

Her seat is where she left it-right next to the bed. She notes that the flowers she had brought (sunflowers, Hanabi liked them because she had helped Hinata plant a patch of them once) are dying. She'll bring fresh ones later.

Slipping into her seat, she activates her Byakugan on reflex. Carefully, the bluenette checks her sister for any sign that she might wake up.

She sighs before cutting off the chakra to her eyes.

Nothing has changed.

It isn't fair. Hanabi is a good child. She is exceptionally bright and strong, if not a tad too cynical for a fourteen year old and a little too naïve at the same time. She has a team and friends and people who loved her. People who depend on her to survive. People like Hinata.

Yet she stays on her bed with her long brown hair fanned out on the pillow. When the afternoon light hits it, it looks a little too red and a little too much like blood. Hinata has to close the shades.

She's looking a little pinker than last time, but maybe it's just her imagination. And the bandages wrapped around her eyes are just as too-white against Hanabi's skin as they had been last time.

Hinata cautiously brushes back a lock of Hanabi's dark brown hair from her face. She almost giggles at a memory of Hanabi complaining that her hair wasn't as silky as Neji-nii-san's.

"Please, Hanabi. Wake up." She whispers, lowering her pale pink lips to Hanabi's cheek. She places a gentle kiss on her sister's soft skin before she leaves the room again.

"Hey, Hinata!" It's Kiba, barreling down the hallway with Akamaru by his side.

She waits patiently for him to join her. "Yes, Kiba-kun?"

"Erm…oh, yeah! You've got some time off now, right? Let's go get something to eat. And get some rest, eh?"

Hinata tries not to cringe - she hasn't rested properly since the war began - and when she nods mutely she allows him to lead her out of the hospital.

The sun is warm on her face and she closes her eyes, allowing herself a small natural smile.

She's missed the sun. She still misses it.

Opening her eyes, she winces a little. It was a bit too bright. Too light.

"Curry rice?" Kiba suggests. He pulls Hinata closer to him and she nods into his arm.

They seem to be eating that a lot now. They stay away from Ichiraku, from any restaurant they used to go to before the war. Too many memories.

Hinata breathes in Kiba's woodsy scent and her heart settles down a bit. As long as he is here with her, she's going to be ok.

She has to be.

"Come on, Hina." They turn into a small restaurant called the Paper Lantern and order before taking their seats.

They sit in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, sipping green tea while their food is being made.

"So are you going to tell me how you got all beat up?" Kiba finally asks.

Hinata stiffens. She should have known he would notice; why'd she lie in the first place?

"Sasuke, right?"

Her eyes flutter closed for a moment and then she nods.

"I'll kill him."

"Kiba-kun…."

"He put his hands on you. He tried to choke you. Give me one reason not to."

"Hokage-sama would probably kill you." She murmurs, lifting her cup to her lips. It's warm in her hands, which is nice; she seems to be feeling cold all the time.

"Besides," She continues, her voice soft. "I probably won't have to see him much again - and if I do, there's the seals. I'm not worried."

"Doesn't mean I'm not." He grumbles putting his head down in his arms. "I'm always gonna worry about you. Always. And he just makes it worse. What if he hurts you again? What am I supposed to do then?"

"Then just stay with me. Make sure I don't get hurt." She presses herself up against his side, seeking his unusual amount of body heat and he slips an arm around her slender waist.

Then the waitress places their meals in front of them, and he is forced to let go of her to free his hands.

But even the casual observer would notice that they are still as close to each other as possible, their heads close to each other as they speak.

After they eat Kiba once again leads Hinata by the hand, though this time to the Hyuuga complex.

"How long do you have off?" Kiba asks while he slides open the door to the clan head's apartment (which they now share. After the war, they weren't in any condition to be apart from each other. No one had bothered to argue.).

"I don't know. Hopefully a few days." Hinata slips off her shinobi sandals and collapses onto the couch. She's so tired…a nap wouldn't hurt, right? Her eyes begin to close and she sighs, burying her face in the red cushions.

Then her eyes jerk back open as Kiba picks her up bridal style and takes her to the dimly lit bedroom. He gently puts her down and takes off his leather jacket and mesh shirt before joining her. The pitter patter of paws on the wood floor lets her know that Akamaru is following too.

"Let's get you comfortable, ok?" He pulls at her jacket and Hinata complies, letting him undress her like she's a small child. Soon she is in her black tank top and her loose navy pants.

Kiba pulls back the black-white-red comforter and drags Hinata under the covers with him. Her face is pressed up against his chest, hands cradled to her chest, and one of his arms is draped over her waist to pull her closer.

"Kiba?" She asks in a small, almost childish voice.

"Hmm?"

"You won't leave me, right? No matter if you get married or something…you'll never leave me?"

He pulls her in tighter, and she can feel his hot breath on her neck.

"Never, Hina. It's always gonna be you and me…cuz' we're Team 8, remember? We're infinity."

Satisfied with his answer, she smiles just a bit and buries her face in the softness of his red t-shirt he always sleeps in. It smells like safety and love and her family and so with his arms around her, Hinata gets some much needed rest.

Rest is nice; it's light and fluffy and she doesn't think she's going to have nightmares this time. Not with Kiba, not with her personal space heater as a light in this terrible darkness.

That and Akamaru is a really, _really_ good pillow.

* * *

><p>He'd like to <strong>light<strong> her on fire.

She focuses on her _light_ in the darkness.

They both have very different definitions of light, don't they?

* * *

><p>fin.<p>

* * *

><p>I've been busy. I'm about to be busier. I'll try to update. Reviews keep the writing block at bay.<p>

- dreameratheart


	4. Dark

**Note: "Murasaki", Kiba's nickname for Hinata (He refuses to use hime as it's what the Hyuuga now call her) means purple or violet. Murasaki is also the name of a character in The Tale of Genji, which is what many people consider to be the first novel ever written. The same novel also contained a chapter called Kumogakure. I didn't even know until I looked up purple in Japanese and found a link to the Wikipedia article. Ironic, no?**

**Also - I freaking love yakisoba. **

**TITLE:**Hyaku no Kotoba

**Chapter Two:** Dark

**Author**: Dreameratheart

**Pairing**: SasuHina

**Theme**: 4. Dark

**Summary**:

_Dark:_

- "The absence of light."

- "Characterized by unhappiness, misfortune, or pessimism."

"Hinata….Hinata….Wake up, Murasaki-chan…"

Hinata's eyes flicker open and she yawns, arching her back so that her body elongates. She curls her toes and stretches her arms above her head.

"There you are." Kiba's wolfish grin hovers above her face. She blinks once, twice and then rubs at her eyes to get rid of the crusty feeling from having her eyes closed for so long.

"W-what time is it?" She asks while she stretches out her arms, lacing her fingers together and pushing her palms outwards. She glances at the open door, and the light that streams through is soft yellow. So, day then.

"It's five thirty, I think. You slept the rest of yesterday and most of today…I figured you might be hungry." Kiba lifts up a bag of what smells like her favorite yakisoba dish from the Paper Lantern.

Hinata can't help but grin. He's the sweetest friend she could possibly have. She gives him a grateful smile and swings her legs over the side of the bed, grabbing the nightstand to help steady herself as she stands up straight.

"You ok?" Kiba sounds concerned, and she shushes him with a wave of her hand. "I'm fine. Just a little woozy."

"_Probably from sleeping for two days straight."_ She thinks. Then she shakes her head, trying to clear her thoughts.

"If you say so - now you want some yakisoba or what? Uh, and there are some cinnamon buns too, they're out in the kitchen." He smiles sheepishly and something inside of her, something that has hardened since Shino died, melts just a bit.

Hinata fights the tears threatening to slip down her face and manages to squeak out "Thanks, Kiba-kun." Then she smiles again and gives him a fierce one-armed hug as he is holding their lunch-dinner - linner? Dunch? - in one hand.

"Just let me change and I'll be out in a second, ok?"

Kiba nods and closes the door behind him on his way out. She can hear him arguing with Akamaru about something – who gets the bigger bowl, it sounds like – and she laughs. It feels _so good _to laugh that she does it again and shakes her head, laughing at herself this time.

Kami, she loves her team.

Then she turns to her wardrobe and draws out a plain, light blue yukata with a white obi. She shakes out the dust and sits down on her bed, stroking the soft blue fabric that reminds her so much of her precious mother.

It's kind of ridiculous how many yukatas and kimonos she has, ranging from everyday to wedding in every color of the rainbow. The only reason she keeps them is because they were left to her by her mother.

Hinata presses her nose to the fabric and inhales deeply; they still smell of grapefruit and oranges. Her mother had always smelled faintly of fruit - she had once attributed it to the hours her mother had spent in the gardens, trapped by both her father and her pregnancy with Hanabi.

Haruka had been the perfect Hyuuga wife - poised, elegant, skilled in negotiating with politicians and soothing bruised egos. She could cook, play a number of instruments, was a master in the art of tea, could put on the most complicated of kimonos on in a number of minutes, gardened, and on top of all of that, she was an excellent kunochi before she had decided to start a family.

And she was kind. Extremely so.

Sometimes she misses her mother's kindness so much she thinks it might kill her.

Hinata shakes her head, trying to snap herself out of that train of thought. It'll just make her depressed and Kami knows she doesn't need to be popping anti-depressants alongside her sleeping pills.

Sighing heavily, she strips off her wrinkled tank top and struggles out of her pants, hopping from one foot to the other as she makes her way to the attached bathroom. Kiba has already turned on the shower for her – she thanks her lucky stars for him once again – and the water is already warm when she steps in.

The hot water beats down on her sore muscles, and she rubs at her back and sighs once more while the soap suds slide down her body, the lavender vanilla scent of shampoo filling the room.

She closes her eyes now and thinks back to her dreams. She doesn't know when they started, but she remembers the graphic nightmares that had her screaming in terror – at least, inside her head.

They change on a regular basis. Sometimes it's Kurenai, crying out as the undead Kakazu plunges his arm straight through her chest. Or it's Shino, his glasses crashing to the mossy forest floor as he reaches for her, dazzling blue eyes glistening with tears as he chokes out a confession she never expected. Other times, it's Hanabi, chained to a prison cell wall and staring up at her with empty eye sockets.

"_But those aren't even the worst,"_ she muses to herself.

No, the worst nightmares are the ones where she is trapped. Alone. No light, nothing but her and her thoughts. And a voice…

A terrible, horrifying voice that reminds her of everyone who has ever hurt her…or anyone she's ever failed. Hiashi, Neji, Itachi, Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, Hanabi, Shino, Kurenai, Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, Sai…

"_**You've failed."**_

"_**You're pathetic."**_

"_**You're a poor excuse for a kunochi…"**_

"_**For a Hyuuga…"**_

"_**For a person..."**_

Complete darkness and voices confirming her worst fears.

Hinata lets out a choked sob and wraps her arms around herself, pressing her back against the shower wall and sliding down so that she is sitting on the shower floor. The water runs over her hair and trickles down her face so that the water mixes with her tears and they both flow toward the drain. She halfheartedly wipes at her eyes with the back of one of her hands.

"_Look at yourself, Hinata." _She laugh-sobs, her body shuddering. _"How pathetic. Crying over a dream."_

She slowly stands back up on shaky legs and turns off the water. The last of it turns cold and drips onto her shoulders. She winces, then grabs for the soft towel on the wooden stool outside her shower.

The towel is soft and warm, and it smells like Kiba, who had put it there, of course. She presses it to her nose for a moment and inhales. Pine. Salt. That smell that comes off of those jerky sticks he's always munching on. She loves that smell.

She finally dries herself off and slips on her dry yukata. The silky cloth sticks to her damp skin, so she rolls up her sleeves before towel-drying her hair and throwing it into a bun.

Hinata ignores the wet footprints she's probably leaving as she exits her room, and when she enters the main living area, Kiba is setting two bowls of yakisoba down on the table. A third bowl – an Akamaru sized bowl – is on the floor, and Akamaru appears to already be half done with it.

Kiba's eyes crinkle up when he smiles at the sight of her. "Enjoy your shower?"

"Yes." She gives him a weak smile. She won't – can't – worry him with her nightmares; he's barely hanging on as it is with his mother having been killed in the war. And then there's his sister, the new clan head, and the awkward tension between the siblings.

Hinata curls up on one of the silk red cushions that sit on the floor surrounding the table, and Kiba takes his own seat across from her. Her manners finally kick in: "Thank you for picking up the food, and for the towel." Then she smiles a little more sincerely, because really, she owes her survival to the man-boy sitting across from her.

"No big deal." He shrugs his massive shoulders, and then begins to pick at his food, flicking away a vegetable and impaling a piece of chicken with the end of a chopstick before he sticks it in his mouth.

"So," He says after swallowing. "You sleep ok?"

Hinata nods – another lie, but they're both used to that by now – and begins to slurp up her own noodles. The end of one of the noodles flicks against her nose and she looks cross eyed at the drop of miso soup that sticks to her skin.

Kiba suddenly bursts out laughing, and though she knows her face must be flushed pink, she starts to giggle until they're both rolling on the floor laughing, a reaction that she suspects in the back of her mind has more to do with their pent up stress rather than the food.

Eventually, they both calm down, and while she dabs at her face with a napkin, she sees that out-of-it look creep onto Kiba's face and she knows something is wrong. Her heart begins to pound so hard that she swears she can feel it in her eyelids.

"And you, Kiba?" She asks softly, twisting the napkin up in her hands. "Are you ok?" 

He hesitates for a moment, and her heart skips a beat before he speaks. "I'm ok. A couple of clan guys -Fumio, Kurou, Madoka - stopped by and tried to get me to come back. Apparently Hana thinks getting my old friends to tell me I'm being a coward is a good way to get me back. Fat chance that's gonna happen." He snorts, but Hinata knows he's just trying to cover the hurt with the witty comments. It's how he's always been.

"Why don't they get that I need to be here?" He continues with the makings of a snarl in his voice. "Kami…" He runs a hand through his shaggy hair, which he hasn't cut since the end of the war. He looks as if he'd like to punch something, and his eyes dart back up to her. "Oh, by the way, the Hokage said he was stopping by. Probably pretty soon - he said around sixish. Bastard said something about a new mission." He makes a face. "Can't he let you have a fucking break?"

Hinata can't help but giggle at her teammate's crude language. He's always been good at making her feel better. So much so that once upon a time, they might have ended up lovers, but now…Still, she can't help the errant "what if" though that flies through her head at that moment when he gives her that heart-wrenching grin when he waits for her response.

"Perhaps he has a stick up his ass?" She tries to say it with a straight face, but they both end up roaring with laughter again.

Then there is a knock at the door, and she struggles to get her laughter under control as she goes to open it.

"I bet it's the old stick-ass himself." Kiba whispers mischievously, and that that sends her into peals of laughter once again as she slides open the door with a bright smile on her face and for once, laughter in her eyes.

She tries to compose herself. "I apologize, Hokage-sama, I-"

Then she freezes.

The scarecrow man stands on her front porch with a wry smile of his home, and next to him, a smirking Uchiha.

His coal black eyes rake up and down her body, not even trying to hide his outright leering. "You clean up nice," He says, though his voice is dark and not humorous like the way Sai once said the same thing. "Perhaps this roommate thing won't be so bad after all."

She isn't going to faint. She isn't going to faint. She isn't going to faint.

Instead, Hinata's fingers clench around the fabric of her yukata so hard that without looking, she knows her knuckles are white.

"Kiba." She whispers almost inaudibly, but Kiba is Kiba and he'll hear her.

Which is good, because she needs him right now.

"I am not doing this. No way in fucking hell."

Kakashi rolls his visible eye and crosses his arms over his red and black Hokage robes. "Get over it. They want you looking presentable – the Kages from the other villages have a say in your…punishment. Want you to make a good impression and all."

"I. Don't. Give. A. _Fuck_." He hisses.

"Stop being such a lard-ass. Put on the damn thing and get over yourself."

Sasuke snatches the dark colored garments and growls at Kakashi, stalking over to the bathroom and slamming the door behind him as he goes to change.

"Deer and Butterfly will escort you to the meeting when you're all done." Kakashi calls through the door. "And don't try anything funny – Hinata trained them both herself on how to activate your seals."

Sasuke doesn't bother to respond, and instead turns up the cold water as far as it'll go.

He doesn't shiver when he steps in, and the ice-cold water drenches his black locks so that they stick to his skin. He had been forced to train in freezing water with the snake bastard. Now, hot water feels almost unnatural.

He stares straight ahead at the hospital-white tiles of the shower walls, barely containing his anger.

He had been rudely and roughly poked and prodded by a Hyuuga medic and had been given a clean bill of health. Then he had been told that he would be meeting with the Konoha council and the Kages of the other villages to decide his punishment.

He already knows that he isn't going to jail. They don't have any use for him there – he'd be better off dead, really. Not to mention that he doesn't have much patience for jail cells. Kabuchimaru tried to keep him locked up after he had discovered the snake's deal with Tobi.

"_Perhaps if you try this time, you won't fail your brother – he wanted you to be happy, you know."_

Happy. Psh.

What does that fucking scarecrow know, anyway? He doesn't know his brother. Not even he knows Itachi.

But then again…

"_I never wanted it to be this way." _

_Sasuke snorts. "We all want things."_

"_I wanted you to go back to Konoha - not go on a damn rampage. This isn't why I made sure you'd live. What you're doing…it isn't living at all. I never intended you to find out."_

_Sasuke shoots his undead brother a dark look before snorting again and setting his sights back on the dark ocean. They're resting in the tree tops now. Kabuchimaru is dead and now Sasuke is just waiting for a moment to strike. But in the meantime, he's got his brother._

"_It's not I have much of a choice now anyway. And that village is the reason you had to do what you did-I swore I'd avenge our clan, and I'm going to do it."_

_Itachi sighs, resting his elbows on his thighs. "Sasuke, even if I hadn't been ordered to…I would've killed our clan either way. I would've spared Kaa-san, of course. The children – the ones I knew weren't corrupted already. And maybe some of the women Kaa-san trusted. But Otou-san…He was evil, Sasuke. I know you didn't see it. But I did - he wanted to take over Konoha simply because they didn't trust him, and for good reason."_

_Sasuke's eyes widen and he stares at his elder brother. "W-what?"_

_The long haired man-boy let out another deep sigh. "Sasuke…look. When this is over, try to get on Konoha's good side. Rebuild your life. Rebuild the clan, damnnit! You've got girls chasing after you - pick one and start the clan over. Don't let it get corrupted by power again. Find a girl to love. Build a family. Though don't just knock her up - do it right. Get married, __**then**__ have some kids."_

_Sasuke can't help but laugh. "Me. Knock a girl up. You know I'm a virgin, right?"_

_Now it's Itachi's turn to laugh. "I figured as much. You don't have much time for that with Orochimaru, and he didn't have the patience for kids - he wouldn't want you knocking some girl up either."_

"_What about you?"_

_If the undead can blush, Itachi does. "Ah – well - ANBU are encouraged to have lost their virginity. Rape risks. Something about the psychological effect."_

"_EH?" An uncharacteristic sound comes from Sasuke. "You were thirteen!"_

"…_.Hn."_

"_Wow. Shit. Who was it?"_

_There's that blush again. "Ah…."_

"_Itachi…"  
>"I don't remember…"<em>

"…_.Who was it?"_

"_Er…"_

"_Who. Was. It?"_

"_Fine. It was an Inuzuka. Her name was Hana."_

_Sasuke raises an eyebrow. "I know of her. She was the older sister of one of my classmates. Seriously, Itachi?"_

"_She was attractive, ok?"_

"…_You have strange taste in women."_

"_It's not like I was in love with her!"  
>"Hn."<em>

"_Sasuke…" Itachi sighs for the third time. "But I'm serious. Despite what Obito thinks, you're going to lose. You'll probably end up in the hands of Konoha. And when they offer you a deal - you know they will - make one of your own. You'll become a Konoha shinobi. You'll even become an ANBU. But when you decide to rebuild the clan - stop giving me that look, brat – leave. I don't care where you go – maybe Oto would be good after this – but do not let Konoha have your family."_

_He hates being spoken to like he's a kid. But to have this kind of moment with his brother…_

_Maybe he'll let it slide._

"_Tch. Whatever. It's not like they'll be able to touch me in the first place."_

_Itachi laughed and dragged his brother into a headlock. "That's what I thought, brat!"_

Sasuke rubs at his neck with one hand and methodically massages shampoo into his hair with the other.

"_Heh. My old shampoo."_ He wonders briefly who brought it to him. _"Sakura, most likely."_

It smells like trees and peppermint, and lavender, maybe. Some herb his mom used to grow. She was the one who made his shampoo in the first place. Her stuff was pretty famous, sold throughout the village. She had left several crates behind, but he had been down to the last couple of bottles when he left. This could be his last bottle.

His last connection to his mother, maybe.

Musing over his mother makes him think about the village and therefore the hearing, and that just pisses him off. Zen mood ruined, as soon as the soap is gone he turns off the faucet.

Sasuke steps out of the shower and shakes his head, water droplets flying through the room. He rubs at his head with the rag-like towel they've given him and then dries off the rest of his body.

Then he stares at the damn kimono they want him to wear.

Someone's been in his house, and his first thought is to kick somebody's ass for being in the Uchiha district. Then he remembers it's probably technically not his anymore, and he sighs.

It's plain in color; the dark Uchiha blue. There are three Uchiha fans on it – one on either shoulder and one on the back. Probably Fugaku's – Itachi had never been this big and Sasuke had been eight at the time of the massacre, after all.

He sighs again and pulls the silky sleeve over his arm. It snags on his rough scars he fights the urge to just rip the damn thing. Finally dressed, Sasuke slips on his shinobi sandals – he's not about to wear those formal sandal thingies – they're called zori, he recalls.

Then he looks in the mirror, and he tries not to pale in horror.

He looked amazing, of course. Every girl's wet dream. They had kept him well fed while he was in the coma, apparently. His hair had grown out and the ends brushed the point between his shoulders. And the lone, silvery scar across his left cheek only made him look more rugged. Add a katana and he might look like some sort of noble knight-in-shining armor.

He looks amazing, of course. Every girl's wet dream. They've apparently kept him well fed while he was in that coma, and where he had been a tad bit skeletal in appearance the last time he looked in the mirror, he's now solidly built. His muscles haven't deteriorated that much and his hair has grown out so that the ends brush the point between his shoulder blades. And the lone, silvery scar across his left cheek only makes him look more rugged. Add a katana and he'd look like a shinobi from the cover of one of the scarecrow's Icha Icha books.

And his eyes. There are so many asinine metaphors, so many beautiful analogies for his eyes. Dark as a starless night. The deepest part of the ocean. The smoothest, richest, dark chocolate.

His eyes aren't dark, and he might be the only person that knows that.

They aren't dark, not at all. They just…aren't light.

Damn. Damn it all to hell.

Sighing, he runs a hand through his now-long hair. Sometimes he wishes he were ugly. It's not like the Konoha females won't recognize him now.

He's not about to cut his hair - it reminds him a little bit of Itachi - so instead he draws it back with a scrap of fabric from black t-shirt he had been wearing before.

Then he swings open the door and his light-lacking eyes dare the ANBU watching him to say something, anything. They wisely keep their mouths shut, and he resists the urge to fight when they chain his wrists behind his back before escorting him to the meeting.

"And here he is." Kakashi grins as Sasuke stalks in, the ANBU at either side.

"_Do not flick off the Hokage. Do not flick off the Hokage. Do not flip off the-oh, damn it."_

He flips off the Hokage and takes his seat in the center of the room.

He has to give them credit – it's all very interrogation like. The Konoha Council and the various Kages surround him from every angle. It's enough to make any shinobi tremble, if not piss themselves. But he's Uchiha Sasuke, so it hardly fazes him.

"Let's get this over with." He mutters. With any luck, this will be over in time for him to go find a little dinner before he falls asleep. He's tired as shit despite the coma he just woke up from.

"See? His attitude is shit! Just throw him in prison for all I care."

A man, Onoki by the sound of it. The ancient Tsuchikage.

Damn man wouldn't die, would he?

"I beg to differ. I find his attitude…a turn on, really." A sultry, female voice. Which meant Mei, the beautiful-but-creepy Mizukage. She flirts with him every time she shows up.

"I'd rather go to prison, if you don't mind." He crosses his arms over his chest. If he's going to go through this, it's going to be on his terms. "Can we get this over with? You all know you won't send me to prison. I'm not much good to you there. And the same thing applies if I'm dead, so that leaves you with one choice:" He can barely stomach the next words. "Make me a Konoha shinobi."

Sasuke pauses for a brief moment. He really hates talking – it's a hassle he likes to avoid. But when no one interrupts…

"Some of you may ask why I deserve to become a Konoha shinobi-I ask, why does Konoha deserve me? My brother was ordered - by the Konoha Council - to eradicate the Uchiha Clan."

Ew. It sounds like Itachi speaking instead of him. And though it's not exactly new news, but whispers break out above his head.

"He spared my life not to torture me, as I was originally told - he spared my life because he could not bear to kill his baby brother." Now he's angry, and the anger makes him smarter. He knows exactly what to say. "And then, driven mad by guilt, he used me as a tool in his own suicide. He could not even tell me what had been done – Obito did that. And although I swore on my brother's grave that I would wipe out the village responsible for my clan's destruction, I will settle for Danzo's death. You know I killed Kabuchimaru myself - he intended to trade me to Obito."

"I am not telling you this because I expect some sort of mercy for my sob story. I am telling you this because I am offering _you_ a deal:

"If I become a Konoha shinobi, I will be loyal. I will become an ANBU. I will follow the restrictions and instructions of my Hokage. I may not like it, but I will. However-if and when I decide to marry and start a family, no village, kage, council, or clan will lay claim to my children or wife. No one will interfere with our relationship. If I choose to raise my family outside of Konoha, I can and will. Those are my conditions."

He falls silent after that, and he sighs while the whispers above him fly back and forth. It's up to them now, but it's likely that they think he'll never have a family. They know of his history with the female persuasion.

That would be Kakashi with his "formal voice" on. Tch.

"The Konoha Council and Kages of the Shinobi World have decided your fate." His voice echoes out over the court room, and Sasuke doesn't bother fighting back a smirk. "We accept your conditions. Here are the conditions of your Hokage: You will live for a six month period with an assigned guard. You will serve as a Genin for the first three months. If you pass a psychological evaluation after the three months, you will be promoted to Chunin. A second evaluation will be given after the second three months. If you pass, you will be promoted to Jōnin and will become a full Konoha Shinobi, thought you will be on trial period for the first six months and the first year of being a Konoha Shinobi. You will be permitted to live on the Uchiha Clan grounds. You will be treated like any other Konoha Shinobi. However, if you attack a Konoha shinobi with malicious intent during your trial period, you will be put on trial and will be sentenced appropriately."

Sasuke mulls over the conditions for a moment. It doesn't seem like a bad deal. The Hokage probably figures that if they put him in prison he'd escape.

Well, the Hokage is probably right.

And he knows that they'd never put him under the care of Naruto or Sakura, so he'd be able to avoid them. All he has to do is play good for the Council for maybe a year and a half.

"Fine."

"Welcome back to Konoha, Sasuke.".

The ANBU come up behind him and unlock his chains, and he discreetly rubs his wrists. They certainly didn't care for his comfort.

"Hokage-sama will escort you himself to your living quarters." The leaner ANBU with the dark hair – the one who Kakashi referred to as Deer- speaks, and his voice sounds vaguely familiar.

"Hn." Sasuke grunts.

A moment later the scarecrow ninja exits the meeting and jerks his head at him, motioning for him to follow.

He briefly wonders what that indigo-haired bitch will say when she realizes that she has to watch him yet again. The image of her face paling from fear in his mind is one that excites him.

They walk in silence for the most part. It's only when he can actually see the Hyuuga compound that Kakashi speaks.

"If it were up to only me," His voice is quiet, but it shakes with anger. "I would've had you killed for everything you've done."

He doesn't bother responding. That pang in his heart is just from his old wounds, not from words.

When they reach the gate of the Hyuuga compound, the guards nod somberly at Kakashi and send Sasuke what he suspects is the Hyuuga Death Glare™.

Well, isn't that a warm welcome.

"She lives with her teammate, Kiba - you think I'd leave you alone with her? - and she may have a child moving in with her soon. Her old sensei's daughter. The girl's father was the sensei of Team 10-one of the members of Team 10 will probably move in too, to help Hinata take care of the girl."

He ignores most of Kakashi's babble, though it's interesting to know that at least one other person is living in the house. And for it to be Kiba…He wonders if they're lovers.

Kakashi stops suddenly outside what seems to be the clan head's apartments – it looks similar to his own old home in the Uchiha compound – and knocks on the door.

"Try to be civil." He shoots Sasuke a final glare.

He can't fight back a malicious smirk and he leans against the doorway. This is going to be _fun_.

The door slides open and a slim figure appears.

"Sorry Hokage-sama, I-"

His first reaction is to gape. The bitch doesn't look so raggedly tired anymore – she's slept and bathed, for certain. Her hair is still slightly damp and is pinned up in a loose bun. Several loose strands frame that pale, pretty face, and her eyes – those eyes he sees in his nightmares – are bright with laughter. The light blue yukata she wears flatters her generous curves and more than generous breasts. He's seen many female bodies in his eighteen years, but this girl…

And her smile. She's clearly been laughing, as her cheeks are flushed an appealing red and she's smiling like she's won the lottery.

So for about half a second he considers holding back the next words that come out of his mouth, the ones that make her smile go ice cold and cause the light to drain from her eyes.

"You clean up nice," He says, not bothering to hide his leering. "Perhaps this roommate thing won't be so bad after all."

Her face turns so white she looks like a corpse, like how is looked in his mind. He watches as she grips the cloth of her yukata tightly, so tight that her knuckles turn white. For a moment, Sasuke wonders if she's going to faint. That would certainly be amusing.

But instead, she keeps her eyes trained on his and rasps out a name.

"_Kiba_."

Her **darkness** is an all-encompassing fear.

His _darkness_ is simply the absence of light.

The facts, however, remain the same.

A part of them is dark. And they cannot avoid that darkness.


	5. Rot

**I've been busy as shit. **

**There's probably a f-load of grammar mistakes and plot holes in this, seeing as I wrote it in a fit of inspiration last week at like one in morning.**

**Lemme know if you catch any of them. **

* * *

><p><strong>TITLE: <strong>Hyaku no Kotoba

**Chapter Five:** Rot

**Author**: Dreameratheart

**Pairing**: SasuHina

**Theme**: 5. Rot

**Summary**: If he wasn't going to rot in a prison cell, she certainly wouldn't allow him to rot here either.

* * *

><p><em>Rot:<em>

- "To endure the effects of complete neglect."

- "The process or condition of decaying."

* * *

><p>Kiba is by her side in a moment, his fangs bared and his arm wrapped around her waist. He feels solid and strong and <em>real<em> and a little bit of air returns to her body.

"And what the fuck do you think you're doing here?" He growls, and she knows his teeth must be bared because his nails are extended, just threads away from tearing the delicate fabric of her yukata. She quickly places a hand on his chest – it would be bad if that damned Hokage arrests him for insubordination.

The dark-haired man in front of her draws out his smirk and his eyes flash. He's enjoying this. Prick. "I'm moving in." He jerks his thumb toward Kakashi. "Just ask him."

Well, fuck.

Hinata can practically hear Kiba seething at this point, and his claws have torn through her clothing at this point. He hasn't scratched her skin yet, but she'd rather it not get to that point, so she tightens her hand into a fist. His arm stiffens around her and she can feel his nails detract, but his anger certainly hasn't lessened.

""She just finished taking care of his comatose ass!" He hisses. "Find someone else to do it!"

She can't help but agree, but due to the fact that the thought of taking care of the horrible, cruel man in front of her is about to make her sick, Hinata withholds her thoughts.

"You're the only one qualified enough," The silver-haired man's voice is quiet, and he looks almost sorry. For a brief second she doesn't hate him, but then that second is over. Then his voice lowers to a mere whisper. "You're the only one who can really…read him." He finishes lamely. "I can't trust him with anyone else."

This is true, but it doesn't matter. She won't do it, what he wants her to do. Not ever again.

Kakashi's voice suddenly grows louder again, most likely for Sasuke's benefit. "It's only for six months, Kiba-san." He tries to appease her partner, whose hand at her side clenches into a fist. "Then we'll make him someone else's problem."

"Someone else's problem!" Kiba's voice rises an octave. "She's got enough problems as it is, you fuckin' bastard! No fuckin' way!"

Kakashi lifts up one side of his hitai ate to show his one Sharingan eye and neither of them flinch. Genjutsu hardly works on her, and Kiba…

"Your fancy eye trick doesn't scare me," He snarls. "You forget exactly which genjutsu user thought I was her enemy and kept me trapped for three straight days."

Hinata doesn't want to think about this, but she does. She thinks about his writhing form strapped down to a hospital table (they didn't want him to hurt himself, after all). She thinks about Kurenai's grief when she realized she had trapped one her own students in one of the worst genjutsus she had developed. She thinks about the sound of his terrified screams, the sound of her own name escaping from his lips...

Kakashi's normal eye darkens and his jaw clenches. "Kiba…" She almost wants to smile; pissing Kakashi off is fun. "This is an official mission from the Hokage, got it?"

Kiba snorts and Hinata makes a split second decision to keep the peace. "It's alright, Kiba-kun."

She won't back down. Not then, not now, and not ever. So Hinata looks the Uchiha directly in the eyes. "I would never turn away from a mission.

The Uchiha crosses his arms over his chest and it looks like there's a challenge in his eyes.

Then Kakashi yanks his hitai ate down over his eye and smiles in that fake way of his as he slams his hand down on the Uchiha's shoulder. "Thank you, Hinata-san!" His voice is unnervingly cheerful. She wishes someone would punch him.

"Now, he only has to live here for six months, and he's made an agreement with the Council to serve as a Konoha shinobi. He's still too weak to take any high-level missions immediately, but not too weak to start as a genin. Escort him to my office tomorrow and I will brief you on the rest of your mission."

Out of the corner of her eye Hinata sees the Uchiha leaning against the doorway. His eyes are closed, but he looks more thoughtful than tired. His body trembles for a brief moment, and for a moment she wonders why, but then she senses a familiar chakra.

Oh, thank _Kami_.

She wants to throw herself in her friend's arms, but Shikamaru has his arms full with both his – their – god-daughter. He gives her a small smile and then his eyes are fixed on the Uchiha.

The Uchiha's eyes are open once more, and Shikamaru has him locked in a staring contest. She can almost see the gears turning in the genius's mind, the calculations flashing before his eyes.

Shikamaru drops his eyes, and she knows he's pissed.

"How troublesome." He mutters. She has to stifle a laugh; judging by the tensing of his jaw and the fact that he hasn't used the word troublesome in about a month, he'd like to slaughter the Uchiha where he stands.

Well. The time for standing around is over now, and despite the Uchiha's presence, she has things to do. She lets out a breath that she didn't realize she was holding and pushes past the Uchiha to meet her…comrade? Friend? Boyfriend? Lover? She doesn't really know what Shikamaru is at this point.

Hinata's breath catches when she reaches Shikamaru…and her god-daughter. Kami, _what_ was Kurenai thinking? How could she entrust her with something this important?

"How is she?" Her hands are shaking at her sides. She loves kids, everyone knows that, but Minako is her sensei's daughter, _her_ own daughter now that Kurenai is…dead. She swallows. It's still so hard to think of her pseudo-mother as gone.

"Good." Shikamaru keeps his voice low. "Cries a lot. Keeps me up at night. She misses you." He pauses, and his low muttering turn into a whisper. "_I_ miss you."

Her heart clenches. "I'm sorry." She whispers back.

"I know." He sighs heavily, and she knows that if his hands were free he would be running a hand through his hair.

She quickly tries to change the subject. "How did you know I was off duty?"

The corners of his mouth twitch upwards. "Kiba."

She smiles wryly. "I'll thank him later."

"So what's Uchiha doing here?" He shifts Minako to his other hip, and the little girl wiggles in his arms for a moment, though her eyes stay closed. Her arms itch to take the dark haired child into her arms, to whisper lullabies and promises that it will be ok, even if it's not.

Hinata swallows again. Shikamaru is _not_ going to be happy about this.

"Kakashi's orders. Uchiha somehow talked the Kages into allowing him to be a Konoha shinobi again. I'm not sure of all the details, but…" She trails off, only putting off the inevitable.

Shikamaru raises an eyebrow. "But?"

"But he needs to be watched."

He doesn't say anything, but his eyes speak volumes and his head shoots up. She knows his steely gaze is aimed at the Uchiha beyond her shoulder, and she knows his hands are itching to form the seals for his signature jutsu, the one that would choke the life out the bastard standing on her front porch. But this is not the time for violence, so she places her hand on his shoulder and his smoldering brown eyes snap back to connect with hers.

"We'll make this work." She says softly.

His jaw clenches and unclenches. "I'll room with him. I don't want his dirty hands near you or Minako."

"Kiba and I already decided that he would room with him. Akamaru will watch the door, and Minako will sleep in my room…as will you." She knows her cheeks are probably red, but she tries not to let it bother her. Isn't she supposed to be a grown-up now?

Shikamaru's mouth opens as if he wants to say something else, but Minako begins to squirm in his arms again and her eyes flutter open.

Hinata inhales and the crimson eyes of her sensei blink up at her. Then, the small girl stretches her arms out wordlessly and Hinata takes the child into her arms. The feeling of Mina's head on her shoulder is a comforting one.

"Hey, baby," She rubs Mina's back and the little girl makes a happy little cooing noise before yawning.

"I think it's her bed time." Shikamaru chuckles. When Hinata looks back up, her brunette friend's eyes have softened.

"I'll take her in now."

She turns on her heel before he can respond, and as she passes the Uchiha, she gives him the news: "Kiba-kun will be rooming with you, Uchiha-san."

The large Inuzuka male in question is already inside and his eyes light up at the sight of his "niece".

"She's gotten so big," He says, his voice unnaturally quiet. "God, are we really going to have her in the same house as that…as that _monster_?"

Her heart skips a beat. If the Uchiha tries to so much as touch her adopted daughter, she'll slice off his balls and feed them to him.

"They won't ever be alone. When the others –" Oh dear god, she forgot about her other guests. It's not surprising, seeing as they've been on a mission for the past two months, but they won't be happy about this.

And that's an understatement.

"When the others get back, we'll set up a system so at least two of us are with him at any time. I'll teach everyone the seals –"

"Not Karin. She'll kill him."

She grins. Kiba makes a very good point. Her newest red-haired friend has a temper that rivals Sakura's, and she isn't going to forgive Sasuke for nearly killing her anytime soon.

"Not Karin. Juugo might be the only one of Team Anko that can handle it." Her smile fades. "I don't know how I'm going to tell them."

Kiba shrugs. "Well, they shouldn't be back for at least a few more weeks – the recon mission Kakashi sent them on isn't the easiest. You'll have some time to think about it. It's not like they'll be living in the same building, anyway. The guest house you put them in is on the outskirts of the compound, right?"

"Mmm." Hinata makes a tiny nodding motion. When Kakashi had allowed the Uchiha's former teammates to become Konoha shinobi, she had taken the three under her wing. Karin had been working with her on her new…_abilities_, while Juugo had assisted her with the development of the seal that now graced the Uchiha's shoulder. Suigetsu had proclaimed himself her eternal ally after her battle with the Uchiha, and as she was the only one who trusted and cared for the three, she had given them a place to live. Then, the recently-rescued Anko announced she was returning to duty as a team leader, and Team Anko was born.

She wants to say something else, but at that moment Shikamaru walks through the door.

"How many months is he staying here again?" He mutters before the dark-haired man in question walks in behind him.

Hinata giggles; Shikamaru is pissed, but she knows he'll get over it soon.

The Uchiha is still, his night-black eyes carefully observing the room. Trying not to startle him, she brushes her hand against his back before speaking. "Shikamaru-kun will show you to your room."

It all changes in a matter of seconds.

He swings around and his hand is a vice on her wrist. She tightens her grip on her god-daughter and a thousand ways to disable the man in front of her run through her mind. Then furious midnight eyes are replaced by massive shoulders and all she can see is Kiba's back.

"Don't you touch her, you fucker," She imagines Kiba's teeth are bared, and something in her tells her she shouldn't let him get angry. But she's really more concerned about the sleepy child in her arms than the mass murderer standing beyond her teammate. "Or I'll cut your hands off."

"Then don't touch me." The Uchiha replies. "And besides, it's not like that's the first time I've touched her."

And then Kiba is gone and something hits the floor.

She lets Kiba get out his anger for a brief moment, but failing her mission in the first few minutes is probably not a good idea.

"Shikamaru."

The shadow wielder nods and his hands flash. Kiba unwillingly rises off the Uchiha's limp form, and Hinata places her hand on his shoulder.

"Kiba, get your temper under control. " Shikamaru says under his breath. "Hinata needs you to be calm right now."

"He deserves it." Kiba hisses, and there's a wild look in his eyes that is almost frightening.

"All he did was grab her wrist. He wouldn't try to hurt her with us standing here; he's not that stupid. And those bruises on his neck are going to be there awhile – do you want Kakashi questioning Hinata about them?"

Kiba snarls and Mina shifts in her arms. She should probably go put the child to bed. "Yeah, well, now he can match!" He's shouting now and Shikamaru looks confused.

And then Kiba seizes her by the waist, though he is cautious not to wake Mina. He yanks her sleeve up, exposing the blue-black bruises on her wrist.

"Look what the fucker did to her, Shikamaru. He nearly broke her damn wrist!"

The Uchiha mutters something, but she can't hear very well as Kiba continues to shout.

"And then there's this." He drops her wrist and pulls her neckline down.

The look in Shikamaru's eyes is one of pure, cold fury.

"Kiba-kun, it's ok." She taps Shikamaru's wrist and he releases his jutsu on Kiba, but his eyes still linger on her neck. "He was punished for hurting me, and you know you aren't the only two who will be living in this compound. I considered the safety of all of us before accepting this mission, and I need –" She takes a deep breath. "I really need your help."

Niether of them say a word. Shikamaru is still staring at her wounds, and Kiba has his arms crossed over his chest and a pout on his face. Then Mina begins to squirm in her arms and a moment later, she begins to cry. It's most definitely someone's bedtime.

"I'm going to go take care of Minako. Kiba…" She glances over to the Uchiha, tracing a trail from his torn yukata up to the tiny rivers of blood streaming down his next, and then finally to his eyes.

It's funny. As evil as he is, as bad as she wants to see him dead…he really does have pretty eyes, even when they're glaring at her. "Clean up your mess." She says finally. Then she heads toward the bedroom. Kiba can deal with him now.

She can hear Shikamaru's footsteps behind her, and then once they are safely behind the door to her bedroom she can feel his arms around her.

"He touched you." His voice is muffled by her hair, but his words are still somehow loud and clear.

Mina has fallen back asleep at this point, and she feels so warm against her chest.

"The seals worked." She mumbles in response.

"If he ever touches Mina like that…"

"I'll kill him myself."

Then Hinata steps away from him and places their god-daughter gently into the crib Shikamaru had brought over while she had been asleep.

"I have to go back to the hospital and get my wrist healed." She says softly. "I think it may be broken."

"Oh." He pauses. "I'll wait for you. Hurry back. And tell Kiba I want to talk to him."

She nods, and then it's back to living room and her prisoner.

"Are you all done, Kiba-kun?" Her eyes dart to the Uchiha. He looks decent. Kiba did well. "Shikamaru wanted to speak to you about something."

Kiba looks confused for a moment, and then he nods. "Oh. Probably security measures."

And then they're alone again.

"I wouldn't aggravate Kiba much more," She says after a few moments of silence. "He has a short fuse and he really would love to kill you."

"Hn."

Oh Kami help her, this is not going to work out. He sounds like Neji, pre-Chunin exams. Or maybe her father. She hates those kind of men.

But if he's her responsibility, then she's not going to let him sit around on his ass all day and spout nonsense about revenge and death and fate. "We don't like this anymore than you do, you know."

"Then why accept the mission?"

The question suprises her. Why does he even care? But he asked, so she'll answer.

"I can't afford to piss of Kakashi, and…" She bites her lip, and contemplates giving him an honest answer. The real reason she accepted this mission.

Well, honesty was always Itachi's policy in the end anyway.

"You owe a debt to many people, Uchiha-san. I believe you would do everyone much better attempting to pay off those debts rather than rotting away in a prison or grave or hospital…or here, either. Please, just…don't throw away your second chance. Your brother would not have wanted you to."

He doesn't speak, so she continues. "I have to head to the hospital. Shikamaru will be out shortly to show you to your quarters."

As she heads out the compound, she wonders if he'll listen. She kind of hopes he does, even if a large part of her wishes she could kill him.

After all, she owes Itachi that much.

* * *

><p>Sasuke isn't that shocked. Kiba's probably just as dumb as before.<p>

"I'm moving in." He draws out his smirk and then jerks his thumb towards Kakashi. "Just ask him."

The dog-man's eyes dart to Kakashi, and when the Hokage nods Kiba's slanted eyes return to bore holes into his own.

"She just finished taking care of his comatose ass!" He hisses. "Find someone else to do it!"

The girl hasn't actually said anything, he notes. She actually looks a little green now. Perhaps she'll throw up. That would actually be pretty funny.

Then he rolls his eyes while Kakashi explains that Hinata is the only one "qualified enough" to keep him contained.

"It's only for six months, Kiba-san." Kakashi assures him. "Then we'll make him someone else's problem."

"Someone else's problem!" His voice rises an octave. "She's got enough problems as it is, you fuckin' bastard! No fuckin' way!"

Either the Inuzuka has balls of steel or is just really stupid, because he doesn't flinch when Kakashi lifts up his hitai ate to reveal his Sharingan.

"You're fancy eye trick doesn't scare me," Ok, balls of steel then. "You forget exactly which genjutsu user thought I was her enemy and kept me trapped for three straight days."

_Her?_ Sasuke runs over the other genjutsu users in his mind-oh, duh.

Their dead sensei.

"Kiba…" Kakashi sounds like he's speaking through gritted teeth. "This is an official mission from the Hokage, got it?"

And then the Inuzuka snorts. He considers reevaluating his assessment – perhaps he is just really stupid after all….

"It's ok Kiba-kun."

The pale eyed bitch finally speaks and her eyes lock onto his. "I would never turn away from a mission." She says, her eyes still on his though her face is pale, too pale to be healthy. Not that he cares about her health.

So he was right about earlier – she's lost her stutter, though her voice was still as too-sweet and too-soft as he remembered.

He crosses his arms over his chest while Kakashi yanks his hitai ate back down and grabs onto his shoulder roughly. "Thank you, Hinata-san!" He says in a cheerful voice that made Sasuke's ears throb. "Now he only has to live here for six months, and since he's made an agreement with the Council…"

Now he leans back against the doorway and tunes out the rest of the conversation. He was there during the meeting; he certainly doesn't need a recap.

He'll have to make this situation work to his advantage. Really, he came up with that shit on auto-pilot. Itachi must have been controlling him from the grave or something. But he can make this work – all he has to do to get out of Konoha is knock some girl up.

Which would require touching one.

Now he shivers (and not because the images in his head are arousing - hoards of girls trying to molest him are anything but) and suddenly senses another person in the area. A shinobi.

When he opens his eyes, he recognizes the lanky form of Nara Shikamaru standing in front of the porch with a large bag on his back and a dark haired baby in his arms. He stares up at him with those beady black eyes.

He stares right back. Nara means Deer, doesn't it? He's pretty sure that this man was the ANBU who pushed him around earlier today.

And whereas Kiba is still just as much of a dumbshit as Sasuke remembers, the Nara is still as much as a genius. And as a genius might do, he quits trying to stare down an Uchiha and instead sighs heavily, his shoulders dropping visibly.

"How troublesome." He mutters.

The Hyuuga lets out a deep breath from behind him and then suddenly pushes past, going up to meet the Nara.

"How is she?" She seems to be referring to the dark haired baby, and Sasuke internally raises an eyebrow.

"_So they're a couple raising their sensei's kid? Maybe it's actually theirs…"_ He doesn't voice his thoughts on penalty of looking like a moron in case he is wrong, so instead he carefully observes the way the pair keeps their heads close together in conversation. They speak quietly so that he can't hear what they are saying, though the Inuzuka with his hearing abilities probably can. Suddenly the Nara's head shoots up and those dark brown eyes seemingly get darker, and the index finger on his right hand twitches. The girl puts her hand on his shoulder, drawing away his attention.

He guesses that the Hyuuga has told him about their new living situation. It appears that he's not too pleased.

Well, fuck him. He doesn't care about their comfort.

Then she takes the baby girl from the Nara and the child rests her head against the Hyuuga's shoulder. Judging from the girl's blood red eyes, she is definitely _not_ their love child.

"Kiba-kun will be rooming with you, Uchiha-san." She says in passing, not even sparing him a glance as she whisks the baby into the house.

He can't help but chuckle darkly. This really is going to be fun.

The Nara gives him a hard glare and nods his head toward the Hokage. "Hokage-sama," His voice is flat and not quite emotionless…a bit angry, he would guess.

This should prove to be an interesting conversation.

"Shikamaru," Kakashi nods in return. "So you're moving in?"

"She does have a clan to run," The Nara drags out the 'clan' bit. "And then there's her sister and Kurenai entrusted her with Akane…and now you've saddled her with a _babysitting job_."

"_Babysitting job?"_

He nearly protests, but then he remembers that it's basically true. It almost pisses him off. _"Six months,"_ He tells himself. _"I survived Orochimaru for four years, I can do six months of this."_

Kakashi doesn't respond to Shikamaru's words, and instead turns his back on both the Nara and himself before heading out the compound gates. But then he turns slightly toward Sasuke before he exits:

"Be in my office the day after tomorrow. We'll discuss the terms of your freedom in detail."

"Hn."

And then he's alone with the extremely tense man beside him.

"If it were up to me," Nara says suddenly, breaking the silence. "I would've just let you rot in prison. You're way too troublesome."

And then he goes through the door and leaves it open, apparently expecting Sasuke to follow.

He goes to shove his hands in his pockets before going in, but then remembers he's wearing that stupid kimono, so instead he lets his hands hang at his sides and enters the house.

The first thing he notices is that it's abnormally warm inside. The second thing is that the house is abnormally white. The walls are bare and painted a sterile, harsh white all around the main area, which includes a living space, a dining room, and a kitchen. There are two hallways at either end of the room, which he suspects lead to a meeting room and bedrooms. His old home had a similar layout.

The little furniture is white as well – a white couch, a glass coffee table, and a white television set. The only other furniture is a dark traditional dinging table with several red cushions scattered around. Actually, now that he looks a little closer, the table and cushions are the only things that look to have been used. The cushions are certainly worn, and the tabletop has a number of scratches.

Maybe she's just moved in – she definitely hadn't been clan head before the war, and if his memory serves him right (which it certainly does; his memory hasn't failed him yet) then she had lived with her sensei after becoming a genin.

"Shikamaru-kun will show you to your room," Fingers barely brush against his back and on reflex he swings around and grabs the offender's slender wrist.

Silver eyes widen and pale pink lips freeze mid-sentence until they're suddenly replaced by harsh black eyes and snarling fangs.

"Don't you touch her, you fucker," The Inuzuka growls, putting the Hyuuga behind him - and the dog-man is more beast than anything else and as such is pretty big, big enough to hide her from his view completely. "Or I'll cut your hands off."

"Then don't touch me." He doesn't – and won't - apologize to the Hyuuga; she shouldn't have touched him in the first place. And then, just because he feels like being a bastard: "And besides, it's not like that's the first time I've touched her."

The next thought that goes through his mind is _"OW."_

The Hyuuga apparently invest in some extremely hard floors.

His second thought is that either he is much too thin for his own good or that the Inuzuka needs to lay off the beef jerky, because it feels like there's a fucking boulder on his chest.

His third thought is that if he ever gets the chance, he's going to cut the nails of every single Inuzuka. Claws like the ones that are currently wrapped around his neck should be outlawed.

And then the pressure is gone. He sits up, gasping for air, and begins rubbing his neck. It feels slightly damp and when he takes his hand away, there's blood.

The fucker actually cut him.

The Nara appears to be trying to calm down the furious beast-man, and that's when he sees the reason that the weight lifted. The Inuzuka's shadow stretched out on the floor towards the Nara.

"_Shadow possession…I'll keep that in mind."_

"Yeah, well, now he can match!" The Inuzuka shouts angrily in the Nara's face. When the other man appears confused, the Inuzuka drags the Hyuuga over and yanks up the sleeve of her yukata.

Oh, _shit_.

"Look what the fucker did to her, Shikamaru." He's practically spitting now. "He nearly broke her damn wrist!"

"Ouch_."_ Sasuke winces internally - he doesn't feel bad about it, but it does look like it hurt. There are dark purple-blue bruises where his fingers had been, and he must've squeezed pretty hard because it looked swollen, too.

"And then there's _this._" The fanged man pushes back the Hyuuga's long blue-black hair and forcefully turns her so that the light from the setting sun that streams through the windows highlights the dark bruises on her neck. Her skin is already pale, almost paper white, and the nearly black imprint of his hand looks all the more menacing.

"Kiba-kun, it's ok." The Hyuuga pulls herself away and then tapped the Nara on the wrist, signaling him to stop the jutsu. The Nara obliges, but he doesn't take his eyes off of the Hyuuga's still-exposed neck.

"He was punished for hurting me," Punished? Is that what she calls that seal that can bring him to the ground? A fucking punishment? "And you know you aren't the only two who will be living in this compound. I considered the safety of all of us before accepting this mission, and I need –" She inhales sharply. "I really need your help."

Both of the men beside her are silent for a moment. Then the sharp cry of a baby rings through his head and he winces. He could seriously use some pain meds right about now, and blood is still streaming down his neck in tiny rivulets.

"I'm going to go take care of Minako. Kiba…" She trails off for a moment and her eyes, those pure fucking white eyes bore into his. It's ironic how it all worked out; white and black and yin and yang and all that shit his mom used to go on about. She's his opposite, right down to her pupil-less eyes. "Clean up your mess." She finishes, her eyes still on his.

Then she is gone in a swish of silk and indigo hair, and his ribs throb.

"I'll…go see if I can help." The Nara mutters before following her, shoving his hands in the pockets of his black pants.

Both Sasuke and the Inuzuka keep their eyes on the two as they disappear down the hallway, listening to the sound of their feet slapping against the hardwood floor.

"Fucking stupid genes." The mutt-man grunts.

"Excuse me?" What the hell is he talking about now? Crazy bastard makes almost zero sense.

The mutt laughs deeply and darkly, so much so that it comes out more like a bark. Fitting. "I'm an Inuzuka. I had to learn healing shit the moment I could be counted on to stick needles in the dogs instead of myself. I already had the healing base when I became a shinobi, and when we decided our team needed a medic…well, I was the obvious choice. And I broke two of your ribs, so it's kinda my job to heal your pathetic ass."

Oh. So that's what's making it hard to breath.

It's sort of surprising that the mutt is the medic of Team 8. Almost every kunochi he knows – Sakura, Karin, Ino – is a medic (or was, in Karin's case). But for now he grunts in response and quickly removes the kimono, tossing the robe over the side of the couch. He's still got pants on, so he's decent, not that it matters.

The dog-man mutters something under his breath and then his palm begins to glow green before he places his rough, callused hand on Sasuke's chest.

It feels awkward, having another man's hand on his chest, but when his ribs stop aching he decides it doesn't matter.

"She should've killed you." The mutt says quietly. Sasuke doesn't bother responding.

"You've caused everyone so much pain, and I mean, I get that you wanted revenge and that the cursed seal was making you insane and so you weren't really responsible for all your actions, but if you ever touch her again.."

Um, what?

"_He doesn't blame me for my actions?"_

The Inuzuka drops his hand, and Sasuke rubs his ribs. It actually feels better.

Then the brunette beast with the red tattoos stares him down, and Sasuke stares right back. "If you touch her ever again, I will make you wish she had ended you that day during the war."

He doesn't fight back a chuckle. "Sure."

Mutt just smiles, but just like the Hyuuga, his smile is dark and is more beast than human. His fangs flash in the dim light of the lamp hanging above them. "Did you know that there are two hundred and six bones in the human body? The hand contains twenty seven. That's a shit load of bones, and even if just one breaks, it hurts like a bitch. If I find that you've hurt her, I'm not gonna kill you. I'll just break your bones, one at a time. Then I'll heal you, and then I'll do it again and again until I'm convinced you've suffered enough. And then I'll do it again, and then maybe I'll hand you off to Shikamaru. He's a lot more creative with torture than I am, and he's a lot smarter too."

Dear god. It's like Naruto all over again. He talks just as much.

"Are you all done, Kiba-kun?" The Hyuuga is back in the room and her eyes dart to him and then to the mutt. "Shikamaru wanted to speak to you about something."

The mutt's brow furrows together, and then realization comes into his eyes. "Oh. Probably security measures."

And then a moment later he and the Hyuuga bitch are alone.

"I wouldn't aggravate Kiba much more," She says after a few moments of silence. "He has a short fuse and he really would love to kill you."

A minute ago he would have scoffed, but the mutt is strong and he is currently weakened by that fucking seal. So goal number one is to get it off. Then, he'll slowly tear out the mutt's nails one by one, and then maybe his fangs too. And then he'll kill him.

"Hn."

"We don't like this anymore than you do," Her voice is soft, but he hears the steel and the pain and the backbone that the little bitch has developed in the last six years.

"Then why accept the mission?" It's not like he really cares, but he hates having questions go unanswered.

"I can't afford to piss of Kakashi, and…" She bites her lip, and suddenly he flashes back to a small girl he used to play tag with in the Uchiha gardens, to skinned knees and quiet tears and how she always bit her lip. He shakes his head and then his thoughts are clear.

"You owe a debt to many people, Uchiha-san. I believe you would do everyone much better attempting to pay off those debts rather than rotting away in a prison or grave or hospital…or here, either. Please, just…don't throw away your second chance. Your brother would not have wanted you to."

He's still trying to process her words when she speaks again. "I have to head to the hospital. Shikamaru will be out shortly to show you to your quarters."

And then she's gone, her long hair swinging behind her as she heads out of the Hyuuga compound.

Sasuke blinks, still trying to process what she just said.

"_What the hell does she know about my brother?"_

* * *

><p>He sure as hell doesn't understand her, but she won't let him rot away.<p>

She promised.

* * *

><p>Fin.<p>

* * *

><p>You know the deal.<p>

- dreameratheart


End file.
